Leadership in a Changing World : Dynamic Perspectives on Groups and Their Leaders

This book elaborates on leadership dilemmas and solutions within real-life contexts utilizing a "systems" perspective in which leaders and their followers co-create their mutually interdependent relationships. Included are issues of political, corporate, educational, terrorist, and diplomatic leadership.

This book addresses the major problems of leadership in groups, organizations, and societies in the twenty-first century, when rapid change, complex dilemmas, and earth-shattering consequences affect the daily lives of people in the diverse contexts of social institutions, the corporate world, domestic politics, and international terrorism and conflict. The volume convenes a group of distinguished scholars, consultants, and leaders who address significant contemporary dilemmas that test the skills and knowledge of all concerned individuals. Benjamin Disraeli said, "I am their leader; therefore I must follow them." This book speaks directly to that intimate connection between leaders and followers. The organizing principle of the book is a ''group systems'' understanding of leadership further elaborated through the relational and intersubjective concepts emerging in the fields of counseling, dynamic psychiatry, and psychotherapy. This interdisciplinary approach both complements and contrasts with the traditional understanding of leadership based on the dynamics of individual and collective self-interest.